Your company is starting to gain traction overseas, and you’re ready to localize your website. We have good news for you: there are only two tools that you should be focusing on right now.
Tool #1: A Good Team
You already have most of your team in place. But for website localization, you will need to find translators who understand the target country, understand the localization process, and understand your mission. Here at OneSky, we contract with translators who are localization experts, because they bring three things to the process:
- Familiarity. Our translators will be living or have lived in your target market, so they don’t only know the language—they’re also familiar with the culture, and the local expectations that your website should conform to.
- Knowledge. Expert translators are comfortable with the localization process, and are familiar with managing their workflows, which makes communication easier and more efficient.
- Skill. Experienced website translators are able to capture the tone of your website, to ensure that your company’s mission is as clear in Swahili as it is in Spanish. If parts of your website are already translated, they can start there, cleaning up what you have and carrying the same tone forward through the rest of their work.
Tool #2: A Good Platform
The second tool is a good translation management system (TMS). A TMS is, in effect, a number of web localization tools, all rolled into one. The platform will be where you upload your strings for translation, but you’ll also be able to share quality assurance materials and communicate more effectively with your translators and the rest of your team. Some of the main features of a TMS are:
- Automation. A TMS will automate whole steps of the workflow, including the importing and exporting of resource files, and certain types of notifications. It will also recognize any duplicate content that has been uploaded, so you don’t end up paying to have the same information translated twice.
- Communication. In addition to automatic notifications, our TMS has private messaging and group voting capabilities. By basing your project in one place, you ensure that all communication is going through a single hub.
- Context. OneSky’s TMS allows you to provide as much information as possible to your translators through screenshots, a glossary, and a notes function. The more your translators know about your website, the better the results will be.
Unlike most TMS out there, the OneSky platform supports all formats. So, no matter what format your website uses, you can get started today.
Get your free OneSky account today and see for yourself.
